The Aussie Olympic hopefuls juggling day jobs with training

He's hoping to walk away from the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 with a medal.

And when he gets back to Australia, Zachery Schubert, 28, will have an unusual welcome party waiting.

Because as well as playing beach volleyball at the highest level, Schubert also has a most unlikely job: he runs a cricket farm.

The Adelaide athlete came up with the idea for Schubugs Cricket Farm as it combines his family background in farming with his qualifications in nutrition.

"You don't get many people starting cricket farms," he admitted.

He reckons a shipping container holds a million crickets - and he has eight of them.

Schubert wanted to get into selling the insects for human consumption.

They're eaten in some Asian countries, are sustainable and packed with nutrients.

So far, he makes smoothies and shakes plus supplies the animal food market.

He can juggle training with paperwork and plans to become more involved once he retires from professional sport.

Schubert, from Loxton in South Australia, started playing volleyball at school aged 13.

He was inspired by his cousin Grant Schubert, who played Olympic-level hockey.

He made the junior Australian team and aged 17 moved to Adelaide.

But despite his success, he has always needed another job.

In the early days, that was washing dishes until 2am.

"When I was younger, probably the first six to seven years of my career, I didn't make any money from the sport," he said.

Though he made "good money last year", it's not consistent income.

He also needs a retirement plan.

"I was in a bit of a weird place with sport," he said.

"I wasn't earning a lot of money from it, and you see all your friends, they've got careers, they start to buy houses.

"You're sitting there chasing a dream."

For now, his dad Tim, 64, handles lot of the work - including shipping the critters - but Schubert works at the weekends.

Meanwhile, Schubert said he and teammate Thomas Hodges are in a "good position" in the lead-up to Paris 2024, having just qualified for a spot.

From computer mouse to hockey stick

Another athlete juggling sport with a day job is Aran Zalewski, 32.

He's captain of men's hockey team, the Kookaburras, and a two-time Olympian who won silver at Tokyo 2020.

He has played 250 games in green and gold.

But he also works as senior consultant at financial firm Deloitte in Perth three days a week.

Aran Zalewski is an Olympic medallist and captain of the Kookaburras.

He'll hit the gym at 6am most days before heading to the office.

Once he retires, he'll likely take on the job full-time.

Zalewski said one of the best parts about work is his supportive colleagues.

"They get to see we're a relatively normal person," he said.

From fighting fires to battling on water

It's hard for Aly Bull, 28, to hide her sports career when working with new recruits in her day job as a firefighter in Brisbane.

The kayaker, who competed in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, has the Olympic rings tattooed on her wrist.

"Towards the end of the day they say, 'Oh, you've got the Olympic rings tattoo?'" she said.

"I train at four o'clock in the morning on my day shifts, and straight after a night shift in the morning.

"It's a lot to juggle but we've made it work."

Of course, her workmates at work can't wait to see her in action.

"In Tokyo, on the fire comms system, all the station got notified what time my races were on," she said.

Bull, who married husband Cody last year, said while the teams are backed by organisations such as Paddle Australia, athletes solely can't get by on that income.

"We are never out of pocket - everything is covered and we do get some money on top of that," she said.

"But it's not enough to pay your mortgage and get your life set."

Working can actually boost career

Retired champion Australian rower and four-time Olympian Duncan Free worked in finance while competing at the top of his sport.

Now the director of Griffith Sports College at Griffith University, he said as long as athletes have a flexible employer who supports their sporting endeavours, juggling a day job can actually be a good thing.

"It can make your career longer because you've got that bit of balance," he said.

But he said even winning Olympic medals doesn't necessarily mean you can hand in your notice.

"You get your superstars that win multiple gold medals and have a truckload of endorsements and don't need to work," he said.

"There's some athletes that win Olympic medals that have no deals on the side.

"If you're relying on training grants and government grants, you're probably going to have to work."